This is the story of 1754 Pennsylvania Avenue. Jack and Janet Smurl moved into the duplex in 1973. It was a modest home, but it was theirs. For the first 12 years, life was normal. The only oddity was the basement—a dark, damp pit that gave visitors an unexplained sense of dread. But the Smurls weren't the type to believe in boogeymen.
For most people, a “fixer-upper” means peeling wallpaper, creaky floorboards, and a stubborn water stain on the ceiling. For the Smurl family of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, it meant something far worse. It meant a doorway. the smurl family
The Warrens performed a "progressive blessing" of the home. For a few weeks, the violence stopped. But then it returned, worse than before. The Church was hesitant to authorize a full Exorcism of a place (rather than a person). The Vatican’s position was that buildings cannot be possessed, only oppressed. Here is where the story takes its strangest turn. The Catholic Diocese of Scranton initially dismissed the Smurls as hysterics. But after a bishop secretly visited the home and witnessed a crucifix spinning upside down on the wall, the Church relented. They did not perform an exorcism. Instead, a priest came to the house, blessed every room, and performed a "Supplication of the Laity." This is the story of 1754 Pennsylvania Avenue
Ed Warren was blunt: "You don't have a ghost. You have a demonic infestation." For the first 12 years, life was normal
The family claimed to see an old, gnarled woman with black eyes standing in the corner of the basement. They also saw a tall, man-shaped beast with matted hair that smelled of decay. The house had become a spiritual war zone. By 1986, the Smurls were desperate. They called in the Warrens, who brought a team of priests, psychics, and parapsychologists. Using electromagnetic field meters and thermal cameras (cutting edge at the time), the team recorded massive fluctuations in the basement. Lorraine Warren claimed she saw a "portal" in the foundation—a spot where the soil itself felt corrupted.
For a year, the Smurls lived upstairs, terrified of the door at the bottom of the stairs. The activity died down significantly. But the curiosity was too much. Jack, wanting to retrieve Christmas decorations, eventually opened the door. According to his testimony, as soon as he stepped onto the top stair, the lights exploded, and he was hurled backward into the kitchen, landing with a broken wrist. The Smurls eventually moved out in 1988. They sold the house at a massive loss. The new owners? They reported absolutely nothing unusual for decades. The house on Pennsylvania Avenue stands today, quiet and unassuming, with a basement that is now a finished game room.